Gualala 2010

Gualala was so much fun this year!! This was our RIDE, a 36' RV! Since Taylee was born 2.5 weeks ago, we decided to make the trip easy and the stay easy. It felt like staying in a hotel while being able to enjoy a campfire and all the dirt. Thanks Jon!The handsome engineer.Inside the RV preparing something to eat!! It sure was a rocky ride.This is on windy highway 1. Luckily no one got sick. The ocean views were beautiful and the air was crisp and cold.The kids love being so helpful with Taylee. It's sweet to watch them all together.Our set up at Gualala. Thank goodness for electricity, running water, flushy toilets, and a shower. Gotta love Gualala!So I put the kids to bed one night and Jon just wanted to wake them up and wrestle..."whatever". So he did and then took pictures of them and put on a video. Does this sound like going to bed to you?Finally sleep.Sweet girls in the morning.Breakfast by the campfire.Speaking of food, that's my favorite part. The crew we go with bring a full size refrigerator, microwave, oven, and a kitchen sink with hot water. I like this kind of camping. The meals consisted of:
Breakfast: Pancakes, Bacon and Eggs, Egg and Ham muffins, and crepes.
Dinner: Cafe RIo Pork, Chile Verde, Fried Chicken, Fried Abalone, Turkey and all the thanksgiving fixings. We love camping.At Gualala there is a playground for the kids including swings, a slide, ping-pong tables, bocce ball and horse shoes. This year it was a bit muddy but luckily the sun came out and we were able to enjoy time by the......river in the water.Dan and Jon had a wrestling match which did not make Max or Brody very happy. They both started crying and Brody said, "Not nice, not nice".We had such a great time that we didn't want it to end. Thanks Oma for all your food prep, it was fabulous as usual!!I asked Rylee and Brody what their favorite part of the trip was and Rylee responded with "cereal" and Brody said "the park". Jon and I laughed that the thing she loved the most was the cereal. As you all paleo people know cereal is not ok.

NACHO!!!!

Last summer when Jon went to Cabo, he bought the kids and himself a luchador mask. At first Brody cried everytime Rylee and Jon put the masks on. As you can see, he now loves them!!Love the mardi gras beads. Now FLEX your MUSCLES!!!

The Three Amigos

Tiny Taylee, we are so happy to meet you! You are absolutely gorgeous!The ladies... and our "Silly Guy"We love our little ones so much! Thank you Heavenly Father for this opportunity to be a parent.

The kids meet Taylee!!

Rylee and Brody were so excited to meet Taylee. Thanks to the Wilkins for letting the kids stay with them and getting them all ready to take pictures with Taylee. Rylee is such a great big sister and loves Taylee so much.She wants to help any way she can.Brody also loves Taylee so much.Yet, he could so easily smother her to death with his love if we turn our backs for more than a second.Jessica knit this hat for Rylee when she came home from the hospital, so I thought I'd carry on the tradition of putting it on our newest girly girl!

I'm READY!

Ok, here's my story. I am due tomorrow, my membranes have been stripped twice, the house is clean and my bags are packed. Once again, I have had inconsistent contractions here and there for about a week, yet Taylee is stuck in my throat. She has not dropped, to say the least. So, Jon and I decided to go to the gym for a workout. After doing a WOD, I sat down to watch Jon finish his heavy lifting day and critique him on his form. Just then while sitting on my little duff, I felt like I lost all control of my bladder. I was peeing uncontrollably!!! The only thing I could say was "Oh my gosh, Oh my gosh, Oh my gosh". I stood up and a puddle was left from where I was sitting. Jon said he'd clean it up as I ran to the bathroom trying to keep my legs closed the best I could...yet the fluid kept coming out. I thought to myself...as if the day would never come, "Finally!!! My water broke!!". We then rushed home and nothing was happening. So I decided to take a shower, do my make up and put some last minute things in my bag and then the contractions started 5 minutes apart. Sweet! We decided to head to the hospital because I was GBS+ this time and needed 2 doses of antibiotics so Taylee wouldn't have to be on the sepsis protocol (more heel sticks and a longer stay). So we get to triage and they want to make sure my water broke by taking a sample, contractions have slowed since I was sitting in the car, which was discouraging. They wanted me to sit still to slow labor because the antibiotics go in 4 hours apart. Here I am ready to have a baby!!!Finally 2 hours later and after 3 attempts they got an IV. I am angry at this point.Finally the first dose is in and then the second...yet my body had slowed things so much that nothing was happening again. So I tried to speed things up with running, burpees, air squats and push ups. This helped a little, but not enough. So they decided to give me a little pitocin to kick my body back into labor. As soon as active labor set in 30 minutes later from hands and knees to the squatting position...some decels...and a couple pushes, she was out!!! Jon was such a big support and what a difference a midwife makes, thanks! Here I am 8 minutes after delivery...I feel like a whole new person.Before the bath.Sticky little toes!! Yuck.Proud father. I love you so much LOVER.Taylee's first smiling picture...too cute.Here are her stats and her tiny little feet prints.Clean finally and what a doll. We are so blessed to have you in our family and can't wait to find out all about you.

Taylee Jo Rudnicki is here!

Taylee was born on May 12th at 2247. Weight = 6 lbs. 10 oz. Length= 19.25"
I am so amazed and proud of Kim! She did a wonderful job of delivering Taylee without any pain meds.I couldn't be happier!!!

Nesting

Here I am 1 day shy of my due date and not only am I feeling the urge to get this house clean but apparently it's been rubbing off on Brody......and RyleeThey always complain the vacuum is so loud. As you can see, Jon has solved that problem.

We're Ready!

Taylee Jo Rudnicki, we are all anxiously awaiting your arrival. You are due May 13th and I predict you will be here sometime around then. We love you so much already, though we haven't met you yet.Until then, enjoy your time with Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ.

Helping Hands

It was really wonderful knowing that all the LDS members in the state of California were coming together on the same day and helping out at this time in need. My assignment was to babysit the kids at the park so the adults could actually do the work on the park. My family members in Fremont also participated in their stake and worked really hard to get the parks put back together in their area. This is a portion of an article written May 10th about the Helping Hands project here in Sacramento.

Sacramento - More than 10,000 members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and their friends descended on parks throughout the Sacramento region to perform necessary work from clean-up and general maintenance to painting, planting trees and even construction jobs.

Under the banner of Mormon Helping Hands, an international program of the Church that has provided manpower in distressed communities and organized relief efforts after natural disasters, the volunteers have chosen parks in their own communities to perform work in state, regional and city parks that have been hit hard by the recent downturn in the economy. The Sacramento effort is part of a statewide Mormon Helping Hands undertaking whose theme is “Preserving California’s Parks.”

“Members of the Church since the 1840s were instrumental in the establishment and building up of the state, including Sacramento and many other local cities and towns,” said Dennis Holland, Director of Public Affairs for the Sacramento Region. “We feel it is our duty to continue in following Jesus Christ’s example of service to others by helping to improve the communities in which we live, especially during these tough economic times for our local and state governments.”

To thank the Helping Hands volunteers, both the City and County of Sacramento have officially declared May 8, 2010, as Mormon Helping Hands Day.

Father/Son Campout

Jon decided to take Brody on the father/son campout this year at Camp Nauvoo in Placerville owned by the church. What a great relationship building experience they had. Brody watched "Cars" on the way up there and was captivated the whole time as you can see.Here are some pictures of the camp ground.They swung on the swings, roasted marshmellows and threw around the football. Here's our backpacking tent we registered for our wedding!! Second time it's been put to good use!Brody was by far the youngest but that didn't stop him from having a good time.What a ham!!!Jon said he loved sleeping in the tent and slept well. Twins! They are the cutest!!As for Jon, he slept poorly because it was freezing and he kept on waking up to see if Brody was cold, which he wasn't.The men in charge provided dessert that evening and breakfast the next morning. Then everyone headed back for the "Mormon Helping Hands" California wide project. I'm so glad you guys went!!! Rylee missed Brody so much that she wanted to sleep in his bed. We loved and missed you boys!